DAY 5: Los Angeles to Santa Barbara to Solvang to San Luis Obispo, California
Well, our Los Angeles Marriott Downtown experience wasn't the greatest. Paul had a lot of trouble with the TV remote - Reception twice explained how to fix it - although they didn't bother to come and fix it. There was a shortage of coffee in the room. Last night, Reception said they didn't have any, this morning they said 'here you go' and gave us several packets. You already know about charging for internet use, and as we were leaving they tried to charge Di a second time for her first hour, and tried to charge Dave for a day's worth when he hadn't used it at all! So, you'll understand why I only gave them two Teds. After all, the toiletries were very nice! The prices in the restaurant were pretty high too. You really need to try harder, LA Marriott!
We got on the bus and headed out for our drive to Santa Monica. There was no time to stop at the pier where I'd previously done my Baywatch photoshoot, before heading on to McDonalds in Malibu. What do you mean you haven't seen my Baywatch photoshoot? Oh yeah, it's on my to do list. Here's a sneak preview!
Then we headed on to McDonalds - priorities - we have to go where we can get drinks and restrooms for a busload of people, and at least they have free Wi-Fi, not much for veggies though. The drive alongside the Pacific on Pacific Coast Highway is lovely. We also passed The Getty Villa which used to be the Getty Museum, but no time to stop.
There are a lot of movie star homes in Malibu. As we left, we took a look at the hills to the right hand side. Jose told us why they looked familiar - they were the used in the opening titles of television comedy series M*A*S*H - Welcome to Korea!
Jose put some music on for today's drive along the coast so we travelled to the sounds of the Beach Boys. There were lots of surfers on the coast today.
Our lunch stop was to be on the American Riviera - Santa Barbara. Home of the University of California Santa Barbara, wine and oil. We stopped at Stearns Wharf on the Santa Barbara waterfront. We took an amble up the pier.
Some of the guys went on the shuttle bus into town, but we were feeling a bit lazy. We ate our lunch on the pier (last nights leftover pizza) and spent a while watching the pelicans dive-bombing into the sea chasing the fish, along with the seals. Was amazing to watch, but my assistant's photography wasn't up to the job on this occasion (sorry!)
We took a walk down to the entrance of the wharf, which is guarded by an impressive dolphin fountain (this is where you get the shuttle bus), before taking a walk on the beach (I figured I should go for a paddle). As we returned to the bus, we found this lovely little park. At the far end there was a carousel too. Too late by then for a ride, though. Santa Barbara was a very pretty little place, and on my 'go back there' list. If Archers are listening, we could do with more time here!
We headed on to Old Mission Santa Barbara. They have a little history museum, gardens, a cemetary, church and, of course, a gift shop.
The mission was established in 1786 by the Spanish Franciscans and it continues to be home to Franciscan friars (no, of course they don't make chips! Jeez!). Since 1961, the Mission has been a Registered National Historic Landmark and, walking around it, the gardens are beautiful.
There was a bit of a pavement chalk-drawing exhibition going on as it was Memorial Day. It's amazing what you (well, some folks) can do with a bit of chalk. My favourite was The Meerkats and the Mere Cat.
When you look at the view from the Mission, you can understand why they built here.
Instead of the Pacific Coast Highway (Interstate 101) we took the Chumash Highway to Solvang. Reading up on it, the community were not thrilled at the road's renaming as apparently they weren't consulted. My problem with it was I couldn't get the song that mentions the Chumash Tribe (I'll Never Tell, sung by Xander and Anya) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer's musical episode, out of my head for the entire journey! Argghh!!
Our final stop of the day, before the hotel, was at Solvang, known as the Danish capital of America and famous for it's pastries. It's a quaint, European-looking little place. We looked into a few touristy shops, the usual fudge shop, a food and wine store with imports and local stuff. We didn't really need the Made in Britain Double Gloucester cheese, but did find some mustard, made in Oregon, that looked interesting, gift-wise. Then we figured it was time to find those famous pastries.
It was a little late in the afternoon, around 3.30pm, so choices were more restricted than they would have been earlier in the day (or at the height of the season), but still, we did okay. Dave had his eye on a cream cheese Danish but I spotted a Strawberry Shortcake. It was amazingly good, so much so that I had to fight Di off with my fork, to get her to leave me - and it - alone!
Paul spotted a sign for the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum so we decided to take a look, even though we only had fifteen minutes before getting back to the bus, but, if it was free... Unfortunately, when we found it, it was only open on Saturday and Sunday and this was a weekday. There was a sign that if it was between 10am and 4pm, to ask at the Management Office and they would open up, but it was gone 4pm. Besides, they were asking $10. Quite a lot for 15 minutes. Maybe we'll catch it next time we are in town. We also spotted (too late) that they had the Hans Christian Andersen Museum but there was insufficient time to check it out.
We then headed for our final resting place...well, for today anyway, travelling along El Camino Real. We were staying in San Luis Obispo and, hooray, free Wi-Fi is back! In fact it will remain so for the rest of the holiday. It was just that miserable LA one - who says big cities are more sophisticated. Just more expensive, in my opinion.
For dinner we went to Applebee's, which was just across the road from our hotel. We dumped our bags and headed out for dinner. There was no veggie option on the menu, but the waiter said they had a veggie burger so Di was happy (well, for her!) Today the meals were a reasonable size, meaning we finished them (Americans might find them small!) We might even have managed desert if it had been further away from that Solvang cake stop. Besides, the one we liked the look of was 1500 calories!
They dropped a Ted for not putting drink prices on the menu - a bottle of red wine was $22, we found out on the bill - and the veggie burger wasn't on the menu. Worst of all though, was that the calories were on the menu. What's that about? Do I need to know that the mozzarella stick starter is 950 calories (that's like almost Di's daily allowance!) I just want to eat, and go... It's too depressing, but overall a nice meal, and very local.
Meanwhile, the Best Western Royal Oak. only got three Teds as well. Here was I raving about the free Wi-Fi, but unfortunately, it didn't work in the room! We all gave it a go and got nothing. Only Di's smartphone worked at all, and that's too fiddly for me to use - the touch screen doesn't respond well to furry paws. Two days and I was getting internet withdrawal! Internet and the only average breakfast (more tomorrow) were the dropped Teds.
